Dreaming
by viper-sindel
Summary: Years of torture force a young woman to turn to her dreams for peace and the love she craves... but sometimes dreams don't stay where they belong... do they?  As dreams become part of her reality, will Kira finally find the life she craves?
1. Chapter 1

DISCLAIMER: I OWN NOTHING BUT MY CHARACTERS. ANY AUTOBOTS OR DECEPTICONS AREN'T MINE (trust me, I wish!).

CHAPTER ONE: THE DREAM

Dreams. They're strange things. So many places to go and so little time to do it in... This was where the madness began. In my dreams. See, I had this strange, strange glitch in me that made my imagination run away with me at times. The most famous time for this to happen was after watching a tv show or a movie. Currently, my mind was taking me into my own twisted fantasy world of Transformers.

It started normally enough. There were the Autobots, Megatron, Sentinel Prime, and Soundwave... Dark of the Moon was my favorite movie by far. Still, my dreams placed me in the second one, Revenge of the Fallen. I was standing in my own personal living ship, my own Rioki like the ship from Tenchi Muyo. It was just as black as Rioko's Rioki and had much the same characteristics, though it was more like Kenoki than Rioki in personality. I was watching Soundwave attatch himself to the satillite. Personally, I was waiting to see if he'd notice me, though I knew he would. After a second, I turned and guided Rioki into the atmosphere of the earth, heading for the one person I'd been going to for advice and guidance for quite some time. Optimus was well known for his patience with me. Part of me suspected that he was like the voice of my father when I didn't want to listen to him. They thought so much alike, after all.

With little to no hesitation, I followed Optimus as he took the roads back to the base after foiling another Decepticon plan. After a while, he pulled off onto a country road, the other bots not following him... and I made my move. I followed him then had Rioki transport me down inside the cab of his truck. Then Rioki shifted back into her cabbit form and climbed in through the window, settling down on my lap.

"Back again?" he asked. I nodded getting comfortable in the passenger seat. "Talk to me."

I never hesitated to follow that request/order. Wordlessly, I slid down my shirt neck so he could see the hole in my back, still bleeding freely.

"Mom got me," I told him. Now, the first time he'd seen one of my injuries, he'd slammed on his brakes and nearly had an accident. Now, though, he was used to this.

"What did you do to anger her?"

I frowned.

"That's the part I don't get," I answered. "I don't remember doing ANYTHING to upset her... All I did was come home afterschool and start on my chores. I didn't say anything to anyone and didn't do anything else! Next thing I know, I'm doging half of our kitchen knives."

Optimus sighed.

"You never told your father, did you?"

I shifted uncomfortably.

"How can I?" I whispered. "We've been over this, Op. I can't tell him. It would tear him apart, having to choose between Mom and I. I can never do that to him..."

Optimus sighed heavily.

"Things will only get worse," he warned soflty. I nodded, pulling my legs up and hugging them to me.

"I know," I answered. "But unlike in your world, I have no other options. If this was my world, I could just disappear without a trace. You know how things are in mine. I run away and end up in worse shape than I was before! Kinda defeats the purpose, don't you agree?"

He merely sighed again and parked on the side of the road, his holoform appearing and wrapping me in his arms, holding me softly. Desperately, I clung to him, childish as the action was. I NEEDED this comfort right now.

"If you were in this world, I'd come for you myself," he told me, surprising me.

"No you wouldn't," I objected. "You'd be too busy and you wouldn't know I even existed! This whole thing, this conversation, your world- it's-"

"Just a dream," he chorused with me. "I know. So you've told me several times, young one. And what do I keep telling you about that? If this is just a dream, wouldn't I be telling you what you want to hear? Or distracting you from your problems?"

I refused to answer, like always. It was just a dream. A dream of an alternate reality, but a dream nonetheless, no matter how badly I wished it were true. All I really wanted was someone to care, even if it was only as a friend or a father-figure. Those would make me happy, seeing as to how no one back home cared, minus my Dad. Optimus played this part in my dream. He cared about me, wanted what was best for me. He listened, talked, even occassionally joked with me.

I knew that my happiness with his limited affections would soon fade as I began to reveal my true desire; companionship. I also just knew that Optimus would NEVER feel like that for me, a human, thus my dreams never imagined it. It would be so... wrong in their world that my mind couldn't even picture a human/cybertronian pairing.

"Kira, what are you thinking about?" Optimus asked suddenly, interrupting my thoughts. I sighed.

"Everything and nothing," I answered heavily. "It's sad, really... I have to dream up someone to actually have someone there that cares, besides my Dad..."

I shook my head, laying it on my knees as a few tears escaped.

"Is it truly so selfish to want just ONE person to care?" I whispered, the built-up hurt and anguish seeping into my voice. Optimus merely hugged me tighter to him. I knew it was foolish, but a huge part of me hoped against all hope that he was right, wished he was right. If he were real, it would make everything so much easier...

"Be patient, Kira," he whispered to me. "I WILL find you."

Mentally I scoffed at the idea. It was impossible. But... some part of me, a large part of me, wished he would, wished he could.

"Please, Optimus," I whispered. "Primus, please save me from this hell..."


	2. Chapter 2

DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN ANY OF THE TRANSFORMERS.

CHAPTER 2: UNFAMILIAR FACES

"Get up!" came the familliar screech of my mother up the stairs to my tiny attic room. I quickly rose and dressed, knowing that school was going to be my only freedom from her this day. "Hurry up! Lazy, useless waste of space..."

I winced at her grumbled comment, but hurriedly rushed out the door. I always skipped breakfast and went over to Becky's. When I got there, I was stunned at the number of extra bodies in the yard this early in the morning. Becky had been my best friend since we were in Kindergarten. Now, we were Seniors and closer than ever. So... who were all these strange new people? One of them caught sight of me and elbowed another, pointing at me. The first one that had seen me had blonde hair and blue eyes. He was muscular, but not overly so. The one he elbowed was taller. He had brown hair and calm blue eyes. The way he stood was proud, but not arrogant. I hesitated, til Becky saw me.

"Oh, Kira!" she said, waving me over. The rest of the group caught sight of me and many of them gasped in shock, some in horror. All of them wore varying disturbed expressions. I slowly walked over to Becky's side.

"Mom's making french toast so it'll be a bit," she said, then followed my gaze to the others. "They're... a little hard to explain. No one knows were they all came from and it's obvious that they don't get along. The group's split down the middle. These guys, these four here, get along just fine. Those four over there get along... but the two groups together? That DOESN'T get along at all."

"What would you have me do?" I asked. She gave me a weak smile.

"Your Dad already agreed to have the four with blue eyes stay with you," she said. I winced. "Look at the plus side, your Mom can't do anything when someone else is there, not someone not from here."

"What's to stop her from turning THEM against me too?" I asked softly, not letting the others hear me. She gave me a soft smile.

"One of them knew your name," she answered. "The tallest one of the blue-eyed group. He's the one that convinced your Dad to let him stay with you. It was origionally going to be just him, but the others soon asked to stay with him as well and he relented. The whole agreement was something about protecting you from all harm..."

My eyes widened as I locked gazes with the tallest member of the blue-eyeds. As if knowing exactly what I was thinking, he nodded, his eyes gentle and understanding.

_Op..._

My heart skipped a beat as I ran over, into his waiting arms. He hugged me close as tears fell out of my eyes.

"I... I didn't think you would... would come..." I whispered softly. I felt him smile against my forehead.

"I promised I would find you," was his answer. I slowly pulled away, noting that all of the people from my world had already left, leaving the nine of us alone here.

"How... is this possible?" I asked, still trying to take it in. "None of you are supposed to exist!"

That seemed to shake the red-eyed ones and some of the blue-eyed ones. Op merely gave me a gentle smile.

"I'm not certain," he answered. "But I DO know that I will keep my word to you as long as we are here."

I paled almost instantly, thinking back on what he was always telling me to do.

"You won't..." I began to ask, leaving it to hang. Op understood immediately.

"It's not my place," he answered. "He deserves to hear the truth from the one he loves."

I regained my color, but shook my head.

"I'm not sure whether this is a miracle or a disaster, but I'll take it," I stated, then looked at the red ones. "Which are you?"

One with fair skin spoke for all of them. He was... dangerously attractive, if that makes sense. It was like, he was more than eye-candy, but something about him warned me away.

"I am Megatron," he answered. "This is the Fallen, Starscream, and Barricade."

I nodded.

"You'll need to get different names while you're here," I told them. "Those designations aren't safe here."

They looked ready to argue with me, but Optimus cut in.

"We all ready have them," he said, speaking for the four Autobots. "Bumblebee will take the name Ben. Ratchet will be Richard. Ironhide will be Ian."

I waited, but he said no more so I decided to prod him after crossing my arms.

"And you?" I questioned. He smiled.

"Oscar," he answered. I giggled. I knew well why he'd chosen that particular name. It was what I always referred to him as during my visits, but only when he was grumpy. I'd explained Oscar the Grouch to him quite well. I then turned my gaze back to the Decepticons.

"Your turn," I stated. "Either think of the names yourselves... or I will."

That didn't sit well with any of them.

"Frank," the Fallen stated, spitting the name out like it was the most disgusting thing in the world.

"Steven," Starscream said.

"Marcus," Megatron finally decided. Then, all eyes were on Barricade.

"Pick one," he said, his eyes on me. I thought it over. He's a cop... really pushy... yet something told me he wasn't as bad as he seemed.

"Brian," I answered finally. He nodded, accepting it. I looked at Op-I mean, Oscar.

"Has Becky made any solid plans for you all yet?" I asked. He nodded.

"Our cover is Transfer Students," he answered calmly. I smirked.

"Going to school, are we?" I teased. "Like y'all really need it."

He smirked back, but it fell as Becky stepped back out of the house.

"Kira, breakfast's ready," she said. With a silent exchange of looks, we all filed into the house. The aroma's coming from there were... intoxicating to my empty stomache. Needless to say, there weren't any leftovers and Big Becky (Becky's Mom) made well over four loaves of french toast, five pakages of Bacon, and two cartons of eggs. After eating, all of us quickly made our way to the cars. Becky and I drove, getting us to their first day at school.


	3. Chapter 3

DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN ANYTHING BUT MY OC'S!

CHAPTER THREE: SCHOOL

It was obvious that the guys were popular. Every girl in school wanted to get to know them, all the guys wanted to BE them, and no one liked the fact that they hung around me, especially Oscar. I had taken all their barbed comments in stride, making sure the cybertronians didn't hear them. I had no idea how they'd react, but something told me it wouldn't be in a good way.

As it was, I was on my way to the English classroom, upstairs. It was one of the few classes I knew we all had together. It was when I reached the landing that I knew a problem was present. Melissa and her posse stood there, waiting for me. All of them wore less than friendly expressions, smirks on a few faces.

"Excuse me," I said, trying to slip past them. I got stopped by a rough hand on my shoulder, pushing me back. Melissa's less than pleased expression met me almost immediately.

"Now, what's a wretch like you have that I don't?" she asked, her voice sickeningly sweet as she tried to seem friendly to me.

"What do you mean?" I asked, confused. Her eyes hardened as she back-handed me across the face, sending me spinning to the floor.

"Now, now," she tutted. "I know you're stupid, but come, let's not act like it, shall we? It ISN'T in your best interests."

I slowly stood up, turning back to her

"I don't know what you're talking about," I said, my voice a great deal steadier and cooler than my mind was. Her eyes flashed.

"All right, let me spell it out for you since your stupidity knows no bounds," she said disrespectfully, like a mother to a child. "Those men that stay with you, why is it that they pay more attention to you than to me?"

I snorted.

"Maybe because they see how shallow and useless you really are," I stated bluntly. The sneer fell from her face as she snarled and pushed me backward. Pain erupted in nearly every limb as I hit nearly every stair going down. I crashed down at the bottom and felt my books slam into my form in different places. I couldn't hold back my hiss of agony. I heard the females laugh and disappear up the stairs. Slowly, painfully, I forced myself to my feet, unsurprised to see the watching teachers merely walk into their rooms, completely unconcerned with the battering of their student... like usual. I stumbled, but someone strong caught me before I could hit the ground. Surprised, I forced my eyes to look up... into Oscar's enraged face.

"Don't," I told him, wincing at the pain it took to talk. The stairs had done quite the number on my vocal chords, lungs, and ribs. "It's not worth it, Op."

I got to my feet painfully and began to pick up my books as the tardy bell rang.

"I told you once, Op," I said quietly, hiding my eyes behind my hair, thus hiding my tears of pain, both emotional and physical. "No one cares."

Then I forced my sorry carcass up the stairs to our next class, Oscar hot on my heels, shadowing me closely, ready to help if I stumbled again. It was only after I'd reached the classroom that I realized the entire group, decepticon and autobot alike, had seen it all... and none of them were very happy about it. They all would have sat in the open seats, but the class had made sure there were no spots for me to sit except in the lonely corner, whereas there were a whole cluster of desks open for them. After looking at me, Oscar walked with me to the outcast desk and dragged up a chair, sitting next to me. The others quickly followed suite, much to the teacher's annoyance... and every student there. I shook my head.

"You guys have no idea what you've just done," I muttered, knowing well they all heard me. Without looking at any of them, I opened my textbook and waited for the teacher's well predicted response to their decision.

"I'm afraid, boys, that I cannot allow all of you to sit at one desk," she stated. "It isn't proper for a classroom environment."

In response, the boys walked over, picked up the empty desks, pushed several of the students over into the empty spaces, then circled my desk with theirs, sitting in them. They looked up at the teacher expectantly, waiting for her next words so they could defy her while still remaining within the rules. Anyone could see the fury in her gaze as her sickly sweet smile became strained.

"Very well," she said, then grudgingly turned her gaze to her lesson plans, beginning with role call. As usual, when she got to my name, she just skipped right over it, marking me absent. Several of the cybertronians were completely appalled. Then she began to pass out our homework from yesterday... and yesterday's pop quiz. She smiled wickedly when she handed me mine. As expected, there was a huge fat zero on top with a huge red 'F'.

"I'll be needing to call your Mother again," she tittered. "If you're having trouble understanding my class, perhaps you'd be better off in 'special' classes for people like you."

I calmly looked her in the face.

"Call her then," I answered. "But I believe you misgraded my homework... again. Shall I have my Dad take a look at it instead or would you prefer to grade it properly?"

Her face twisted into a snarl and I cringed, preparing for the pain... that never came.

"Unhand me this instant!" she demanded, I turned in shock to see that Ian had a grip on her hand, keeping her from slapping me like she always did when I bested her.

"You will not strike her for speaking the truth," he snarled at her. "I can see her answers from here and they're ALL correct. Either fix the grade or I'll take it to her father myself!"

With that, he released her wrist, which she rubbed like his grip had been painful (as it probably had been knowing his temper). She glared daggars at me, but walked off in a huff, leaving my paper on the desk. I shook my head.

"She's not gonna change it so you wasted your breath," I stated softly, ruefully. "You really have no idea what you're doing."

With that, I got up and left the class, much to their shock.


	4. Chapter 4

DISCLAIMER: I OWN NO TRANSFORMERS MATERIAL.

CHAPTER FOUR: A HARSH REALITY

BARRICADE'S POV

I was worried, I won't deny it. I, a Decepticon, worried about a human! Becky wasn't fareing much better. She kept glancing at the door, something that was definately causing much of the tension in the room. All of us were here, autobot and decepticon alike... and we were ALL worried. That much was obvious. Suddenly, the door flew open and a figure stood there, in the dark, rain pouring down on them. Lightening lit the sky, revealing the identity of our mysterious guest and my spark sank. Something was horribly wrong...

"Be...cky..." came the soft whisper before her eyes closed in a dead faint. Becky just barely got there in time to catch her as she fell into the light. Horror and rage filled me as I took in the sight. Every inch of her was damaged in some way! Her skin was covered in fresh cuts and terrible bruises.

"Katie!" Becky called out. "Quickly! The kit! Richard, clear the table! Ben, get me some hot water and a rag! Frank, help me put her on the table!"

Everyone hastened to obey. Kira's limp body covered the table, one end to the other. Wordlessly, Becky began cleaning her wounds, treating them.

"She should be in a hospital!" Richard stated, clearly upset beyond words. Becky's head snapped towards him with a snarl.

"So they can finish the job?" she snapped. He froze. "When are you gonna get it? No one in this entire county is on HER side! The doctors would kill on her on the table-on purpose! She CAN'T go to them!"

He sat down hard, as did the rest of us.

"How did this happen?" Oscar asked, completely thunderstruck. Becky's lips pursed, the strain in her patience evident.

"You did this," she stated coldly. Anger coursed through us at the accusation.

"We did nothing of the sort!" Oscar replied angrily. She whipped around, her eyes ablaze.

"You didn't?" she demanded. "Really? You may not have raised your OWN hands for this, but you are undeniably the cause!"

That hit like the world's hardest slap.

"You DEFENDED her!" she continued to snarl. "You gave her attention, cared about her! That's reason enough for the others to attack her! Do you get it yet? Do you? If you had left her alone, just let her deal with it all on her own, she wouldn't BE like this!"

She forced herself to calm as she turned back to Kira's wounds.

"Her Mother runs this town," she continued to explain. "And her mother wants her to suffer for a crime she never committed. She has the whole county believing that the one that kills Kira will get the greatest reward. Do you have any idea how many times she's come to my door in this condition, just because her mother wants her out of the way? Her mother HIRES people to do this to her, to kill her. Only Kira's will keeps her alive. Why she continues to put herself through this is beyond me. She's died three times all ready for God's sake! Why does she keep choosing to come back?"

She paused, letting that sink in. It... hurt!

"Once someone gets away with harming someone else, that victim soon becomes everyone's victim, the one everyone takes their bottled up emotions out on," she continued, her voice growing sad. "I'm sorry to say it, but there's very little bad this girl HASN'T been through, very few evils she HASN'T seen... and they grow even fewer each and every day... Her mother's seen to that. She will stop at nothing to kill her."

"Why would she kill her own daughter?" asked Oscar, completely at a loss. Becky growled.

"She's NOT her daughter," she answered coldly. "Kira's true parents threw her out to die when she was born. She's fortunate that a nearby pack of wolves were more kind-hearted than hungry. They raised her for a few years. Then, she got very, very sick. Brokefang, the leader, took a huge risk and lured a hunter to their den, desperate to save her life. That hunter, was her father, Brice. He brought her home and adopted her, much to her mother's delight. They'd been trying for years to have a child of thier own... but then everything changed... According to her mother, her father began to spend too much time with Kira, cared more for her than for her mother. In spite and jealousy, she struck out against her daughter, tried to kill her the first time. Her brother got in the way and got gravely injured and died in the hospital the next day. Kira wasn't in near as bad shape."

She paused, obviously finding this story hard to tell. I was finding it hard to absorb.

"Her mother told her father a burgler had broke in and had harmed the children," she continued. "Kira could have stopped all this right then... but her greatest fear stopped her. Thanks to her origional parents, nothing scares her more than the idea of being abandoned. She feared that if her father knew the truth, he'd leave her, just like everyone else had... so... she lied. She backed up her mother's story. Shortly after that, word got out to the rest of us what really happened, though Kira and her mother only managed to agree on one thing: her father must never learn the truth about their war. Neither of them want to harm him in ANY way or lose him, but on one another, it's open season. When the county learned the truth, other people began to test it out, see if they could get away with it too. Kira refused to tell her father the truth about any of it, protecting him from the harsh truth and so, her list of abusers grew. When her body came up bruised and cut, she told him any believeable story she could think of and he always bought it. When her grades hit rock-bottom, she told him that school held no meaning for her anymore and that bothering to try anymore was pointless, hiding her teachers' actions. His disappointment tears her apart, but she knows to finally tell him the truth is to merely push her own tortured soul onto him, forcing him to feel the pain she's come to know so well."

She paused.

"Now, not all of us wanted to just sit back and watch, but we made the mistake of getting between her mother and her, a mistake you only get to make once," she stated. "Most of us learned to help her after the fact, not get in the way, especially since the last person that defended her ended up dead. With the police on her mother's side, who's going to press charges against her when Kira was the one vicimized again? How do you think her mother rewarded people for hiding things from her husband? She gives them Kira to do with as they please. Yes, that includes exactly what you're thinking."

Disgust tore through me. Was this child left NOTHING?

"There's little to nothing left of her now, merely a shell of a young woman," Becky finished. "Kira told me who all of you are while we were in chemistry. I don't know how she managed to reach you, Op, nor how you all came to be here... but I fear your presence will do more harm than good."


End file.
